hacktivismfandomcom-20200213-history
EDT, ECD, and Ricardo Dominguez
HACKTIVISM Hacktivism uses the combination of hacking tools and activist framework to reach political ends, or for a political cause. Under this, hacking is done in a traditional sense, "A person who enjoys exploring the details of programmable systems and how to stretch their capabilities" however with a larger purpose than simply causing trouble. Hacktivism is another tool used by those working for social change. What is hacktivism? Electronic Disturbance Theater: Founded in 1997 by performance artist, Ricardo Dominguez and other members of the group called Critical Art Ensemble; team of cyber activists + performance artists who work via the Internet to organize and program computer software to show their views against propagandist and military actions, and begin mobilizing micro-networks to act in solidarity by staging virtual sit-ins on-line and allowing the emergence of a collective presence in direct digital actions. Cyberactivists and artists engaged in developing theory and practice of electronic civil disobedience. They describe what they do as "working at the intersections of radical politics, recombinant performance art, and software design." Flood.net Flood.NET is an Electronic Civil Disobedience (ECD) device used to flood or block a website by running a script that refreshes the current browser every 5-7 seconds. Reflects tactics of blockade and trespass. A computer-based program designed to facilitate "virtual sit-ins" (first use of this idea), which bring hackers together with the mission of making what they believe to be ideologically faulty websites inaccessible to others by overwhelming such sites with web traffic (a "denial of service attack" or DoS attack). Alignment with Zapatista movement in Chiapas, Mexico - the group is interested in the intercontinental networks of struggle and resistance. Software was used to attack the Mexican and American gov. websites after their involvement in the Acteal Massacre of Chiapas civilians belonging to the region of Zapatista revolutionary action in Mexico (1998); in 1999, the group released their online civil disobedience software to the public as part of the "Zapatista Disturbance Developer's Kit." (promoting use of "tactical media" in New Media Activism, which involves the public deployment of low-cost communications tools to protest against government and corporate institutions in a wide-reaching, high-impact manner-----from https://wiki.brown.edu/confluence/display/MarkTribe/Electronic+Distur...). Ricardo Dominguez Ricardo Dominguez is a co-founder of The Electronic Disturbance Theater (EDT), a group who developed Virtual-Sit-In technologies in 1998 in solidarity with the Zapatista communities in Chiapas, Mexico. EDT's SWARM action was presented at Ars Electronica's InfoWar Festival in 1998 (Linz, Austria). He is Senior Editor of The Thing (bbs.thing.net). Former member of Critical Art Ensemble (1987 to 1994 - developers of the theory of Electronic Civil Disobedience in the late 80's). Currently a Fake-Fakeshop Worker (www.fakeshop.com), a hybrid performance group, presented at the Whitney Biennial 2000. Ricardo has collaborated on a number of international net-art projects: with Francesca da Rimini on Dollspace and with Diane Ludin on the Aphanisis Project. His essays have appeared at Ctheory (www.ctheory.org) and in "Corpus Delecti: Performance Art of the Americas" (Routledge, 2000), edited by Coco Fusco. Editor of EDT's book Hacktivism: network-art- activism, (Autonomedia Press, 2001). He is a professor at UC San Diego, and an expert on electronic civil disobedience. Here is an article on Dominguez that ties into the student activism happening since last year across UC campuses: http://articles.latimes.com/2010/may/07/local/la-me-ucsd-professor-20... "The bespectacled associate professor triggered a software program that continuously reloaded the home page of UC President Mark G. Yudof's website." awesome! The THING THE THING is a non-profit organization committed to the development of new media culture and the arts. THE THING is a social network, made up of individuals from diverse backgrounds with a wide range of expert knowledge. It has built an exceptional array of programs and initiatives, in both technological and cultural networks. During its first five years, became widely recognized as one of the founding and leading online centers for new media culture. Its activities include hosting artists' projects and mailing lists as well as publishing cultural criticism. THE THING's multimedia lab has regularly hosted a variety of artists, including Vuk Cosic, Sebastian Luetgert, Nick Crowe, Prema Murty, Daniel Pflumm, Heath Bunnting, Beat Streuli and Mariko Mori. THE THING has also organized many events and symposia on topics ranging from the state of new media arts to intellectual property issues and the preservation of online privacy. THE THING has been generously supported by the Nathan Cummings Foundation, the Rockefeller Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts and numerous private individuals.